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ODRAZ B92, Belgrade Daily News Service
Odraz B92 vesti (by 7 PM), January 31, 1997
E-mail: odrazb92@b92.opennet.org, beograd@siicom.com
WWW: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/, http://www.opennet.org/b92/
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All texts are Copyright 1997 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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NEWS BY 7 PM
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RTS GENERAL MANAGER TO BE DEMOTED
Dragoljub Milanovic, General Manager of Radio Television Serbia
(RTS), has been demoted or will be soon, Radio B92 were told by
sources close to the Serbian Government and RTS on Friday. The
news is to be made public on Monday. Mr. Milanovic will probably
get an ambassadorial post. The new RTS general manager is expected
to be Milovan Vitezovic.
STUDENTS TO SEND ELECTORAL MATERIALS TO JUDGES
Cedomir Jovanovic, member of the Steering Board of Student Protest
96/97 said on Friday that students will send the electoral and
post-electoral minutes of the Belgrade Electoral Commission to
Supreme Court judges.
Mr. Jovanovic said that the students had urged the public
prosecutor to initiate procedures to uphold the rule of law. This
would mean respecting the earlier decision of the Belgrade
Electoral Commission to recognise opposition wins and excluding
from future court proceedings on the November elections judges
from the Supreme, municipal and district courts, FoNet reported on
Friday.
Mr. Jovanovic described Friday morning's event in the Supreme
Court as absurd, as court security had told the students that the
Public Prosecutor was there, while the Public Prosecutor's
secretary had denied he was present.
Tanja Milovanovic, member of the Managing Board of the Student
Protest, on returning from her visit to Denmark at the invitation
of Danish weekly 'Politiken', stated that she had met Danish
Foreign Minister Niels Petersen, who had sent a letter of support
to the Student Protest. She noted that Danish public opinion had
considerably changed in favour of the Serbian people.
TEACHERS PROTEST
The Independent Education Trade Union of Serbia held a protest
meeting in Belgrade's Trade Union Hall on Friday. The striking
teachers stated that the strike would not end until all the
teachers' demands had been met, Beta reported on Friday.
More than 1,000 schools across Serbia had joined the strike by
Friday. In 3 Belgrade schools, directors are reported to have
abused their authority by sacking or threatening to dismiss
teachers who have joined the strike.
COUNCIL FOR DEFENCE OF DEMOCRACY SUPPORTS TEACHERS STRIKE
The University Council for the Defence of Democracy expressed its
full support on Friday for the general strike of primary and
secondary school teachers, FoNet reported. The council's statement
warned that the living conditions of all educational staff were so
bad that a strike was the only possible form of protest.
BELGRADE ELECTORAL COMMISSION ACCEPTS ZAJEDNO APPEALS
The Belgrade Electoral Commission granted on Friday the 28 appeals
of the Zajedno opposition coalition.
The First Municipal Court handed the remaining 17 appeals down to
the Belgrade Electoral Commission on Friday to be solved within 15
days.
Radomir Lazarevic, chair of the Commission told Radio B92 that
they had decided to shorten the term and respond to the appeals
much sooner.
NEW CITY GOVERNMENT IN JAGODINA
The opposition coalition Zajedno constituted the new city
government in Jagodina on Friday according to the November 17
results. According to those results Zajedno holds 34 out of 63
seats on the City Council of Jagodina.
On opening the constitutive session, the Zajedno deputies acted
out a comic obstruction of that session by discussing English
poetry and US policy in the 18th century. The dumbfounded
Socialist and JUL deputies left the session. The Zajedno deputies
then elected the new city government.
NIS: SOCIALISTS WILL BE CONSTRUCTIVE OPPOSITION
``We shall be a constructive opposition,'' Zivota Zivkovic leader
of the Socialist party in Nis stated on Friday. He said he would
not allow Socialists to obstruct the city government. Mr. Zivkocic
also announced that his party would seek dialogue with the ruling
party in that city and that there would be a reshuffle of the
Socialist branch in Nis in light of the party's failure in the
November local elections.
CONSTITUTIVE SESSION OF CITY GOVERNMENT OF PIROT ADJOURNED DUE TO
LACK OF QUORUM
The fifth part of the constitutional session of the Pirot City
Council was adjourned on Friday as there was not a full quorum.
None of the Socialist, and the one Radical, deputies turned up for
the session.
The Socialists' reason for not coming was the alleged refusal of
Zajedno, who hold the majority in the city council, to verify one
Socialist seat. During the break, the city council received a
decision by the Supreme Court of Serbia. That decision sustained
the Zajedno appeal and annulled the one disputed Socialist seat.
The Mayor of Pirot also announced that some Socialist deputies who
had wished to attend the session were physically prevented from
entering the building, Beta reported on Friday.
CRITICISM OF LEADERSHIP OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SERBIA
12 former prominent members of the Democratic Party of Serbia
[former member of the Zajedno coalition, which stood independently
in the local elections] sent an open letter to their leadership on
Friday.
The letter criticized the party leadership for diverging from its
programme of 1992 that proclaimed unity with the opposition, Beta
reported on Friday. The letter also blamed the party leadership
for staying on the sidelines and keeping out of the protests at
the November election fraud which had also affected them.
BELGIAN SOLDIER KILLED IN VUKOVAR
A Belgian soldier in Eastern Slavonia was killed on Friday, Willi
Hanset, UNTAES Major General, stated on Friday. In the shoot-out
near the UN HQ in Vukovar, a Jordanian soldier was also wounded
and a civil policeman, FoNet reported.
GENERAL STRIKE ANNOUNCED
Tomislav Banovic, chair of the Council of Independent Trade Unions
of Serbia, announced in Pirot on Friday that this trade union
would go on general strike if the Serbian Government failed to
change the Labour Law and adopt the model for property
transformation proposed by the trade union, Beta reported on
Friday.
AWARD FOR TOLERANCE PRESENTED
Representatives of Student Protest 96/97 were presented with the
Award for Tolerance by the daily 'Nasa Borba' on Friday. Latinka
Perovic, president of the jury, said that the students had made
violence non-sensical in their stand-off with the police.
JOVIC: MANY DECISIONS MADE BY SERBIAN FIRST LADY
The Friday issue of the Guardian carried an interview with former
Vice-President of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Borisav Jovic. In
that interview, Mr. Jovic called on Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic to accept the failure of his party in the local
elections and reduce the influence of his wife over politics in
Serbia if he wished to stay in power.
Mr. Jovic stated that there were many Socialists who opposed
President Milosevic's policy and that there was a possibility that
another ``democratic leftist'' party would be formed out of the
wing that opposed party hard-liners. Mr. Jovic concluded that the
police would turn against President Milosevic if he tried to use
force against the demonstrators.
Prepared by: Marija Milosavljevic
Edited by: Julia Glyn-Pickett
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ODRAZ B92, Belgrade Daily News Service
E-mail: odrazb92@b92.opennet.org, beograd@siicom.com
WWW: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/, http://www.opennet.org/b92/
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